Page 28 of The Dragon Shifters' Enemy
“Do you have any ideas about how to find the Behemoth?”Caden asked him.“Because I don’t.My head is empty of ideas.Esme, Marban and Chione are all cooped up together working their contacts.Illarion is probably calling home and wanting someone tortured who might give up the ghost.Mei is fixing Adama.Kaila, Jahara and Tez are probably up to no good.Anwar is likely resting after such a long flight. I say we escape while we have the chance!”
Valerius let out a rumble.“What about your family?”
“What can I do for them other than give a tour? Tilly and Rose would likely have a better time looking around themselves,” Caden said.“Mom is probably on the phone to her Faith people and Dad… Dad is likely working on something.That’s how he deals with stress.My point is--”
“Yes?”Valerius’ eyes twinkled.
“Hey, I am getting to the point, I’m just being thorough.Namely, no one needs us right this second. So let’s take off,” Caden said.“Maybe getting away will clear our heads.”
“Maybe.” Valerius stroked Caden’s hair meditatively.“Perhaps we can get away for a little while.We could fly together and then get back for lunch. I can show you a favorite spot.”
Caden immediately jumped to his feet and lifted Valerius to his.“Let’s go now?Please?Pretty please?With sugar on top?”
Valerius framed Caden’s face with his large hands.He drew his thumbs along Caden’s cheeks and then leaned in and kissed him.
“You don’t have to ask twice.Let us go,” Valerius said.
“We haven’t flown together in way too long!”Caden cried as he slipped out of his pants.
Valerius untied his robe and let it slide down his shoulders to puddle like a pool of ink on the stone floor.
“Raziel wants some sheep on the way,” Valerius said.
“Sheep?”Caden looked up and realized that Iolaire was awake and very eager for sheep.“Oh, no… hunting?”
“They are hungry and we don’t want to wait for breakfast before we go, do we?”Valerius waggled his eyebrows at him.
Caden responded with a weak smile.“Okay, sure.Who doesn’t want raw sheep in the morning?Uhm, by the way, I assume there aren't wild sheep in America so…”
“No, there are nowildsheep, Caden.We pay the farmers for their animals,” Valerius assured him.“You shift first.”
Caden still felt a touch of nervousness when he had to shift, but it would be better to go first than to have Raziel, flapping there, waiting impatiently for Iolaire.
“I would just jump off the ledge,” Valerius suggested with a tilt of his head towards the stone railing.
“Right!”
Caden went to the edge and got up onto the railing.He then made the mistake of looking down.There was nothing below the balcony except a sheer drop all the way down to the bottom of the mountain.The ground was so far away that everything below them looked like it was a miniature.He shut his eyes and wobbled there as the wind blew.
“Caden, what are you doing?”Valerius asked.
“Uhm, having an extreme fear of heights?”
“You made that sound like a question instead of a statement,” Valerius sounded amused and fond.“Would it make it better if I reminded you that even if you fell and did not transform you would be fine?”
“Oh, really?Even from this far up?”Caden cracked his eyelids open and looked towards Valerius who had joined him on the railing.
“Yes, even from here.You’d land on your feet rather like a cat.Want to try?”Valerius asked.
“NO! I mean… no, I’m good.I can do this.C’mon, Caden, do this.You want to fly with Raziel,” Caden murmured the last to himself.
“Let’s jump together,” Valerius suggested.
“No, no, you just dive after me if I don’t shift, okay?”Caden asked.
“All right, my love,” Valerius said, sounding quite convinced Caden would shift.
And the “my love” part had Caden leaping off of the railing.At first, nothing happened and he felt the parabolic arc he was about to make as he started towards the ground.Then he looked up at the sun and, in that moment, he felt his body justgo.
